Comments on: Blood and Chrome did a poor job setting up a TV series

By: James Nelson

James Nelson — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 21:53:14 +0000

Truth is most Sf “fans” really don’t know what they want until they see it. Then when they determine they do like it, they want more of the same. Thus good shows eventually get milked for all their worth until there’s nothing left, or they continue way past the point where the creators have run out of ideas. Though Caprica had interesting premise behind it, finding out the origins of the cylons was as big a let down as actually seeing the clone wars in the Star Wars prequels.Some things are simply better left to the imagination. And some of us out here do still nurture a healthy imagination and don’t feel the need to have Hollywood reveal ever mystery in the universe.

By: Rob

Rob — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 02:48:22 +0000

Ok, here’s what I don’t get: after BSG got some buzz, it spread like crazy…easily enough, be ause it was GOOD. It went from a guilty pleasure of those who wouldn’t normally watch a show that involved robots and spaceships to something-or The Thing that everyone talked about. Everyone. It was referenced and loved (or hated-but still talked about) across the spectrum. People have missed this universe, and though Caprica tried to break away from the style and did a nose-dive, a vehicle like B&C would seem (at least to my naive perspective) like an easy sell to SyFy. I just can’t believe that they wouldn’t want to climb back on that ship, because it seems inconceivable that they’re doing much more than paying the bills with wrestling (what?) and camp like Sharkogtor and Crocopus,or whatever those horrific cg monster flicks were called.
I have been going about my life, not pining on a daily basis for Galactica’s return…until I saw B&C. Now I’m just craving MORE and feeling confused as to why this thing hasn’t generated a scramble to pick it up by multiple networks, let alone getting passed up by the network that gained so much clout from the franchise to begin with. You would think that with the certain intellect and sensibilities associated with sci-fi lovers, that the network waving that flag might make better calls. Maybe A&E will take a look at it…zombies and cylons? Sounds good.
Cheers.

By: John Herndon

John Herndon — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 19:36:24 +0000

I cannot fathom why you are so slanted against Blood and Chrome.

I have just finished watching Blood and Chrome (“The Movie”), I am both awed and amazed by the plot quality and the special continuity of the story itself in terms of the theme’s placement in the First Cyclon War. Like many fans I have a romanticized version of the first war in my imagination, I have to say that The Movie hit all expections and then some.

I suppose the fan base has spoken based on the above comments.

I think people need to remember that like Ivey West, movie critics also blasted Star Wars when it was released. The iconic place that particular movie has in the eyes of its fans cannot be understated. It just goes to show us all that critics are like another part of human anatomy, we all have one and have to put up with it.

By: chuck

chuck — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 02:20:36 +0000

I don’t spend a lot of time on Syfy these days given the cancelling of Stargate Universe in mid-series without much notice. That really bugged me.

In any event, after reading the comments above, I want to add this. The old series with Loren Green suffered from being mired in its period, too many weak female characters, cheesy sets, Pollyannaish adult child relations, etc.

The last BSG series seemed off the mark. It was more like a mini soap opera noire. There was too much fracking and family problems, too many double dealing agendas, and too many mind trips by Baltar and the rest of the naked female cast on the Base Stars (something of a porn quality drama). Also there was virtually no scale as to measure the plight of the crew, the odds of survival etc. In the movie, Starbuck complains about a pilot and then learns he was killed in action, along with 85 other vipers. I don’t recall seeing that many in CGI. In fact, the flight deck was practically empty and available for volleyball courts if wanted.

The new Blood and Chrome is like wow. Lots of action, lots of set, lots of vipers, lots of people and machines on the flight deck, stacked sets with multiple ships along with escort vessels which were completely missing in the last BSG. You could have killed everyone in Blood and Chrome and replaced them with veterans from other units, crews, squadrons, command crews and they would have been believable.

I loved the tricky little editing gimmicks to use machine or tool noise to dub over cursing. I enjoyed Ben Cotton’s character immensely. They could have had him actually caring out his threats to rip the flight deck officer for assigning him Husker, and the ordinance officer for short changing him on Archers. I can’t even figure out if Kelly was a traitor or heroine. Did she carryout a triple cross selling her misinformation to the Cylons, or was she carrying out a misguide double deal? I still can’t tell.

I’d love to buy the DVD if they actually include some senses that were cut. Like when the commander of Osiris visited the admiral, who was the admiral, is there a cameo from past actors or actresses? What of the Sym sense in the opening sequence, that must have happened at the academy, not on a shuttle bound for Galatica. And the missing line about the Arceron by Corker. I’d love to see it. Also I think the viper pilot on the ice moon, actually jumped back to Caprica and could easily return, after all weren’t those brand new Marc III vipers.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 09:55:21 +0000

Interesting comments about BSG and its spin offs but it might be worth noting that the original Book of BSG (remember those?) had the Cylons as living beings not a machine species! They had their own sprawling space empire which they controlled with an iron hand until mankind entered the picture and stared telling planets under Cylon rule that freedom was the go and they should rebel against their dictatorial rulers!
This set the Cylons on a collision path with Mankind who they “hated with every fiber of their being” making it impossible for the two races to ever settle their differences as the Cylons viewed it as a fight to the death.for what they stood for as a race.
The whole construct of he Cylon race was better in the book than what was realized on the screen in either BSG series and did not contain the heavy handed religious overtones that seems to permeate the modern take on BSG
The modern take of BSG has us confronting ourselves in the form of machines(techno children of humanity- see Caprica) who seem to becoming more human than us along with religious overtones just add water! This is the heart of the matter because the BSG story has been interpreted three different ways, once in print and twice on the small screen and each have their supporters and detractors.

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 00:10:56 +0000

In all fairness to the movie, it was announced months before the broadcast that show would not be picked up as a series, it’s more than possible that the movie was edited to be just that, a movie, instead of a pilot episode to introduce characters for the long term. Syfy has not been doing the BSG saga any justice.

By: dawnell

dawnell — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 20:32:23 +0000

I have to agree with a lot of points Rich made, except that he doesn’t like some of the episodes that I probably liked best. It’s too bad Blood and Chrome is cancelled, I hope that they change their minds. Of the three pilots I might like this one the best, as it seems the most like the original show. I didn’t originally think the BSG mini series was bad (except maybe for cigar-smoking female Starbuck), just different, and somehow in places more like other things than Battlestar Galactica. Sort of reminded me of The Second Variety (Screamers). The Blood and Chrome special effects were not always the greatest (really looked like a video game in places) but at least all the ships looked like what they were supposed to. As for the pilot not spending much time on people who would actually be in the rest of the series, this might be a good thing. If they later decide to go ahead with the series, they’ll only have to re-hire two or three actors, and the rest would be replicable without really changing anything.

By: samson

samson — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 22:59:45 +0000

To be brief, I would say that after watching blood and chrome webisodes, BSG tv show is still the best made show. I liked Caprica very much especially the last few episodes to air because of increased action but due to how short the series was, it could not beat BSG. What if the exact same production crew (I mean the same crew and the same amount of crew members) that was involved in making BSG made blood and chrome, especially the special effects and camera crew?

By: Rich

Rich — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 02:25:50 +0000

I partially agree with you. Moore’s BG stunk from the word go. And who’s idiotic idea was it to strip off half the weaponry and most of the outer hull of the Galactica…? CGI can be done well, but it’s no match for miniatures when it comes to realism. But, those kinds of effects are expensive and that cost, along with writers who should have been keel-hauled, were what eventually brought down the original BG. Again, religion and mysticism (Ship of Lights) killed it as well.. As for Lucifer. He was an “IL” class Cylon. Basically the IL Cylons are the ones which can be made into an Imperious Leader. They generally are the ones who command base ships and bases.Although using the voice of Dr. Smith (Jonathan Harris) from Lost in Space was extremely annoying and completely unbelievable. Using Patrick McNee’s voice for the Imperious Leader was a great choice, but then having him play Iblis was kind of creepy. If they had kept the original BG as a serious scifi series, and not gone off the deep end with plots like Starbuck’s Father, the Ship of Lights, and Loyd Bridges’ horrible Commander Cain portrayal, the how might have lasted longer. Making the Cylons a human invention was moronic as well. I stopped watching most of the new BG series about 4 episodes in. Bad special effects, and you’re right.. Bullets??? They can create a jump drive engine, but can’t create a laser that works in vacuum where bullets can be dangerous to those who fire them. The Physics of the shells and tracer rounds was wrong too. As for missiles, if you will remember the Pegasus had missiles in the first BG. They used them to take out those two basestars. Although the vipers flew more realistically, as did all of the spacecraft. But the new Galactica was just ugly.. Especially compared to her earlier self in B&C.

By: Ivey West

Ivey West — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 02:19:43 +0000

Rich: We can jump all over SyFy for a variety of reasons (trust me, I do it often), but we’ve also got to recognize that this still the network that aired the new BSG in the first place, took a major risk of significantly changing the tone of a franchise with SGU (Which I think was just as good as BSG, if not better), and is putting a whole crapton of money in Defiance.

Show’s don’t necessarily fail because of the network, they fail because they can’t get enough of an audience to pay the cost of purchasing the show. I personally liked Blood and Chrome despite my problems with using it as a launching point for a full series, but SyFy obviously found it wanting regarding a full pickup. I’m not sure that there’s a good metric to see how well the webisodes equate into real dollars, but we’ll get a better feel for when SyFy airs it in the coming months.

I can almost promise though, that it won’t do particularly well.